WAVE POWER [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—An article
in your issue of November 21st revived the question of tides as a source of power. The almost prohibitive disadvantage of the " half-tide " system of tide utilization is cost. Other systems are even less practical. Why, then, this adherence to-tidal-power ? Why not wave-power ?
Briefly, a wave-power station would consist of a pier mounting paddle-wheels suitably geared to dynamos. Every wave racing in, with its consequent backwash, would set each wheel swinging backwards and forwards ; this motion being converted into a constant forward motion of a crankshaft.
The great disadvantages of tidal-power are the facts that it cannot be generated where it is wanted, that it can- only be generated when the tide is suitable (for six out of twenty- four hours a day), that suitable estuaries are scarce, and that obstruction is caused to shipping by the necessary dam. A wave-power station, on the other hand, can be built locally to supply local needs on any part of any coast where the tide does not recede out of reach of a pier, provided the sea-bed is suitable. A wave-power installation interferes neither with shipping nor with any other vested interest and is cheap compared with a " half-tide " installation necessi• tating a dam and high-level reservoir. What is more, wave- power is continuous, so long as there is any motion of the sea. —I am, Sir, &c.,
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